Eminem presents himself as a one-man culture war on his latest, "The Death of Slim Shady." The album has been universally panned by critics and yet debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s a populist album.
Critics complain that Eminem has exhausted his material. After all, he’s already killed Slim Shady off — twice. Anticipating their responses, Slim Shady raps to Marshall Mathers, “Now they’re saying you lack ire, that’s why your satire backfires.” Many of the album’s references are tired: imitations of "South Park’s" Cartman, potshots at Caitlyn Jenner and Christopher Reeve. He returns to culture war standards from transgender rights to fat shaming. His response to critics sounds like Eminem during his imperial phase, that period in a pop career when anything an artist releases will be both a hit and a cultural phenomenon: “This my s**t, I'm going to spit it how I wanna spit it / Whoever gets offended, suck a d**k and f**k a critic.” For Eminem, that phase was 1999 through 2004. Is Eminem stuck in the past? Yes and no.
